Terminator Salvation review

Much like movie sequels, games based on films traditionally err on the side of being, well, rubbish. However, Gameloft has already forged a reputation for itself as one of the iPhone's most reliable publishers and, by jove, has managed to buck this unfortunate trend.

Terminator Salvation is an ambitious 3D action game that lets you roam freely within its environments. Mimicking console controls, a touchscreen pad acts as an analogue stick controlling your characters movement, while you can change your aim by moving your right thumb around the screen.

Although such ambitious controls tend to be troublesome, Terminator Salvation copes about as well as any iPhone game we've seen, while there are other accelerometer and touchscreen control methods to cover all bases.

As John Connor, you run around a post-apocalyptic world full of the familiar robot warriors gunning, quite literally, for you. Rather than being a pure run ‘n gun shooter, whenever you walk up to walls or other flat surfaces, you'll take cover behind them. Thanks to the third person perspective, you can look around corners without exposing yourself too, making the cover mechanic genuinely useful rather than just a console-copying gimmick.

To act as a breather from the standard on-foot levels, you also get to drive vehicles equipped with far more powerful weapons than Connor's standard rifle. The carefully-managed level variety and supreme production values make Terminator Salvation one of the highest quality games seen yet on the iPhone. The game also goes to prove that the iPhone is capable of delivering fully-fledged action games without really making any concessions to the fact the device you're playing on wasn't designed as a games machine.

Our only criticism is that Terminator Salvation is a tad short. Play it on easy mode and you'll be able to breeze through it in a couple of hours. However, the amount of content it packs into those two hours makes it a game you'll be happy to replay on higher difficulties. If you do, you'll even get a chance to play as a metal-headed Terminator yourself.

Much like the film, Terminator Salvation is a minefield full of excitement peaks. Unlike the film though, it's not plagued by an underlying sense of emptiness. Underneath the explosions and visual glitz is a rock-solid game engine, one that we hope Gameloft will continue tweaking and using on its other high-end titles.

If you're after excitement and a game to show off to your friends, Terminator Salvation is harder to beat than a solid metal robot skull.